HP CEO Meg Whitman Received $15.4M in 2012

The executive received a base pay of $1 and option awards with a value of $6,414,249 and stock awards valued at $7,040,076, which made up the lion's share of Whitman's compensation.

Whitman's pay was heavily criticized by shareholders especially because of the fact that HP's sales dropped from $127 billion in 2011 to $120 billion in 2012 and the circumstance that the company had to report a loss of $12.7 billion, down from a profit of $7.1 billion in the year before.

One investment firm, GMI/The Corporate Library, rated HP with "Very High Concern" in its executive pay, which HP dismissed stating that "2012 executive pay was far below the vote at the vast majority of companies." Harvard management professor Jay Lorsch criticized Whitman's activities outside of HP, saying that despite her near $16 million pay, she also chose to remain on the board of Procter & Gamble board, which "has the highest number [of] overburdened CEOs of any company in the Standard & Poor's 500."

"This is probably not the kind of board you want for a company that's about to face a crisis," Lorsch said.

Meg Whitman is a dumb &%#$. All CEOs and board members decide each other's pay, not the actual owners of the company (share holders). Wouldn't it be nice if we could all decide that, despite poor performance at our mundane jobs, we deserve a nice 500% bonus above our base salary. Shit, count me in!

cinergySoon she'll lose that amount of money when she drives HP down the drain.

She wont lose a dime, paid to take responsibility while in the end takes none when it goes bad. Its like any other company really, the higher up the less real risk to loose in the end as their future is already secured.

That old saying, "every nation has the government it deserves", while not quite true for people and their nationality, is extremely accurate for shareholders and the CEO of their company.You are not shackled to HP. Drop it, go find somewhere else to invest to.

rantocShe wont lose a dime, paid to take responsibility while in the end takes none when it goes bad. Its like any other company really, the higher up the less real risk to loose in the end as their future is already secured.

Uberragen21Meg Whitman is a dumb &%#$. All CEOs and board members decide each other's pay, not the actual owners of the company (share holders). Wouldn't it be nice if we could all decide that, despite poor performance at our mundane jobs, we deserve a nice 500% bonus above our base salary. Shit, count me in!

greghomeit's called Tax evasion........when their official salary is 1bucks, technically they're eligible to not pay tax

It's called tax avoidance, and I don't blame anyone, no matter how rich they are, for wanting to lessen their own tax burden (unless they're hypocritical bastards like Warren Buffet). However, she still has to pay tax on the dividends and capital gains.

In fact the title is misleading since that's what the options and shares awarded are worth, but until she execute the options and sells the stock, she isn't getting any money. And being paid with stock investment rather than cash salary is supposed to provide an incentive to boost company performance since your actual payout is dependent on share price.

greghomeit's called Tax evasion........when their official salary is 1bucks, technically they're eligible to not pay tax

You have no idea what you are writing about... It's called Capital Gains tax and it's what the recent fight over the Bush tax cuts are all about. He salary is $1, so assuming no other income, her fed tax bracket is %15, and that would apply to any non-qualified dividends, or increases in her investment portfolio value (i.e. "capital gains"). She has to pay tax on that income, without actually receiving it. Although, given her personal wealth, I don't see it as a real burden to her.

npcompleteIt's called tax avoidance, and I don't blame anyone, no matter how rich they are, for wanting to lessen their own tax burden.

And I don't blame anyone for not giving a **** what you think about how much tax wealthy people need to pay. She is a billionaire and can suck it up. When she starts struggling and has to choose between the house payment or buying groceries, then she can have my sympathies on her tax "burden". Nothing that woman does add any value to any corporation, and they still throw money at her like rice at a wedding. How much do you think the researchers that developed the patents HP filed this year got paid? Or how about the slave labor that slogs into work every day to build their workstations and laptops? ..|. People like her are real "takers", sucking up all the air in room so much that everyone else is choking.

FOR WHAT?! Running a company further into the ground? I never thought that was possible since Carly and her dumb*** lackey Mark Hurd raided HP just for the money; screwed the techies and burnt down the whole damn thing and took a leak on the ashes of a once great company.

I'm simply amazed how far HP has fallen; and how stupid the people are that are running the company.